Helium kite business takes flight
Raising a balloon — Laurinda Dorn shows a gas-filled aerostat. She and her husband John have begun selling the helium-filled kites locally.
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Updated: June 26, 2009 9:47 AM
A new business selling helium-filled kites is taking flight in Summerland.
Laurinda Dorn recently launched their business selling gas-filled aerostats, or helikites. Dorn said her husband was involved with another company and came across the technology, which struck him as something unusual.
Dorn said the aerostats do not need wind to stay up, but any breeze helps them sweep and arc.
She noted the kites have many applications. The aerostat devices were originally developed in 1993 in the United Kingdom to use for bird control, scaring birds away from crops. Dorn said the last time she spoke with the man, he told her the aerostats had been used by law enforcement agencies to carry thermal cameras into the air. The cameras can aid police in tracking criminals through forest or other situations where visibility is limited.
Dorn added the cameras could also be used in forestry to locate hot spots after bush fires.
GasKite Aerostats orders their kites from the United Kingdom. The devices range in size from three feet long up to a 26-foot aerostat.
“They can get quite large. The ones that go up with cameras, they have to be quite substantial in weight.”
Dorn said while the aerostats have many uses, her first goal since the business was launched is to convince area orchardists of the value of the devices. She pointed out that technology to scare birds away from crops is only necessary for the soft fruits, but a flock of starlings can destroy 30 per cent of an entire blueberry crop. She said she had spoken to one orchardist who uses several methods, from bangers to helikites to scarecrows to keep birds away from his fruit crops.
For more information on the aerostats, visit www.helikites.ca or contact Laurinda Dorn at 250-583-9875.
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